USAS Northeast

The Suffolk University administration officially affiliated with the WRC this week!!!  Hurray Suffolk!

We are putting together a map of all the contractors and unions on our campuses as part of creating a national strategy around Campus Community Solidarity stuff. So let us know what or who is on your campus by commenting here. Also tell us which workforces are in-house and/or non-union.

We are proposing that student labor groups in the Boston area hold regional meetings. These gatherings would serve as a way to coordinate, collaborate, network, share information, ideas, and other resources between similar groups in and around Boston.

Our goal is to connect local student groups who work with the same unions and work against the same contracting companies. Student groups with overlapping contracting companies will be able to compare workers? salaries and benefits between campuses. Groups will be able to mentor each other and can provide insight into dealing with unions and companies. For example, a mentor could inform another group who to contact in the union hierarchy; groups can share successful as well as ineffective strategies against particular companies in order to more effectively organize.

Different groups can provide one another with valuable local knowledge of the unions and companies in order to build off of other’s achievements rather than repeating each other’s mistakes or wasting time on information gathering that has already been accomplished.

Groups within the Boston area can provide more than just nominal support in name and occasional phone calls. We are in close proximity to each other and can build more substantial relationships. We will be able to provide strong support and high numbers of people for events and campaigns.

We are thinking about holding the meeting on Dec. 3. If you are interested in planning or attending please let us know!

Rachel Kleinbaum rayk116@brandeis.edu

Katie Schofiel kas@brandeis.edu

A few of us working on the Killer Coke campaign have been discussing the future possibilites of expanding the campaign beyond one company. The campaign is already under the official campaign of “Ethical Contracting” in USAS, but until now we haven’t figured out a broader way to hold our universities repsonsible for the contracts they sign.

One way we have started to move forward is to look into other singular companies many campuses would contract. We are currently responding to some news about labor abuses in a Guatemalan factory that packages Sysco frozen vegetables that end up in university cafeterias. The other options being discussed concern establishing long-term agreements or policies within schools which would give us leverage in many different kinds of campaigns for the future. This would be a kind of an extension of WRC codes. However, new ethical contracting codes seem almost impossible to devise right now because they would have to be at once vague enough to cover many issues and also have very particular clauses for the various industries it might pertain to. We’re still working on this. Any thoughts?

Connor

The Northeast Regional Conference is November 10-12 in Providence, RI. It will be a great way to meet other USASers, to strategize about how to win these campaigns, to share skills and experiences, and to have lots of fun!!! Please come, please get as many people in your group as possible to come, and please REGISTER.

You can register online here!

Last week, the Hampshire administration agreed to affiliate to the WRC!

Last week, the Trinity administration agreed to affiliate to the WRC!!!

November 15 is National Worker Appreciation Day!!!  Students across the country, even at schools that aren’t running campaigns around campus workers, will be showing our appreciation for dining hall staff, security officers, janitors, clerical workers, and everyone else whose work contributes to our education.  You can do something as small as passing out flowers or candy, or as big as delivering big thank you posters or even hosting a dinner or other social event.  Make sure to post your plans here so we can share ideas!!

The search is on for an ethical alternative to Coca-Cola in the Northeast!!! A stellar taskforce made up of star Nesasers is on the case. For more info, contact:

Max Drummey (Harvard):drummey@fas.harvard.edu

Emma Roderick (Smith): emma.rose.roderick@gmail.com

Connor Murphy (Fordham): clarsenm@gmail.com

Meghan Tinsley (Wellesley): mtinsle2@wellesley.edu

Robin Miller (Wellesley): rmiller@wellesley.edu

Jamie Worrall (Skidmore): j_worral@skidmore.edu

Charlene Obernauer (SUNY Stonybrook): humanrightssbu@aol.com

Kate Brown (Ramapo): kbrown@ramapo.edu

Hey Northeast, this is Enku the Queer Caucus Rep. If you would be interested in being part of the queer caucus discussions and planning (this year BEFORE we all get together at the national!) please send me an email at michael.ide@usm.edu. We also have our Queer caucus blog all done up, so if you email me I’m sure I can get you going.

Peace and Solidarity,

Enku

601.590.1260 michael.ide@usm.edu